Depth-Map.com vs Artificial Studio
Depth-Map.com vs Artificial Studio — web preview vs 16-bit maker export
Artificial Studio ranks #1 in US SERPs for “artificial studio depth map generator” and is positioned by Google’s AI Overview as a fast web-based depth map tool for images and short video. It is a preview surface, not a maker-facing export. Depth-Map.com makes the same estimate from a photograph but returns a 16-bit PNG and a closed STL — the two files a laser, CNC, or 3D printer will accept.
16-bit PNG · STL · Pro $19/mo
| Artificial Studio | Depth-Map.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Output format | not disclosed (preview oriented) | 16-bit PNG + closed STL |
| Bit depth | not disclosed | 16-bit grayscale (65,536 levels) |
| STL closed vs open | not disclosed (no documented STL export) | Closed (floor + 4 walls) |
| Free-tier limits | not disclosed | 3 credits / UTC day signed-in; 3 / day anon |
| Entry price | not disclosed | Pro $19 / mo (300 credits) |
| Input types | Images and short video (per AI Overview) | Single photograph |
Sample from this photograph.
16-bit PNG · STL · 3 mm depth, 1.5 mm base, 40 mm long side
Who each tool is for
Artificial Studio previews. Depth-Map.com exports.
Artificial Studio wins when you need a web preview from a video clip. The product is positioned as a fast browser-side depth viewer for both still images and short videos — Google’s AI Overview quotes that phrasing directly when users search for the main “depth map generator” query. Its US SERP position is #1 for “artificial studio depth map generator”, which is a brand-driven query with a well-defined intent: users who already heard of it and want the preview. If your use case is a quick depth look at a video clip for colour grading, a parallax effect, or a VFX preview, that is what the tool is built for.
Depth-Map.com wins when the deliverable leaves the browser. The export is a 16-bit grayscale PNG (65,536 height levels) and a closed STL (floor plus four walls). Those are the two files that a fiber-laser running LightBurn 3D Sliced, a CNC router running Carveco or VCarve, or a 3D printer in Bambu Studio or PrusaSlicer will accept without a preprocessing step. The workflow is single-photo, and Generate is a single server call; everything after it — depth in mm, base, invert, gamma, flatten, crop, long side — stays local.
The silent problem
Why a preview-grade depth map fails on a laser.
A preview can look correct on screen and still fail a laser. Three reasons sit behind that, and all three are preconditions a maker workflow checks silently.
- Bit depth. A preview surface rarely needs more than 8-bit. A LightBurn 3D Sliced engraving on brass needs the full 16-bit range to avoid 256-step topography lines across a slow gradient — the issue fiber-laser hobbyists call “stepping”. Artificial Studio’s bit depth is not disclosed; if the export is 8-bit, the lines will show up on metal.
- STL closure. A preview that renders a mesh in the browser does not have to produce a water-tight STL. PrusaSlicer and Bambu Studio commonly refuse open meshes, and LightBurn 3D Slice can read an open edge as negative height.
- Scale. A preview normalises depth into a [0, 1] viewer range. A manufacturing export needs real millimetres so that “3 mm relief” is 3 mm on the bed, not 3 × some normaliser.
Depth-Map.com publishes the remap: a 3 mm peak lands on value 19661 on a 10 mm scale, the long side is in millimetres, and the STL closes on all six sides. Those three numbers are what make the file predictable on the machine.
Migration
Three steps from preview to export.
- Save the original photograph, not the Artificial Studio preview image. The preview has already been normalised for on-screen viewing; regenerating from the source avoids inheriting that normalisation.
- Upload and press Generate. The reply is a 16-bit PNG on a known millimetre scale. Depth, base, invert, gamma, and crop then stay local and do not consume credits.
- Download the closed STL. 40 mm long side is the default and changes without another Generate. The mesh has a floor and four vertical walls, so it sits flat on a laser bed and passes a slicer’s water-tight check.
For a video clip, keep Artificial Studio for the preview and generate a still per frame on Depth-Map.com only when that frame is going to a machine.
Preview-first vs maker-first, in one table
Different jobs, different tools.
A preview-first depth tool is doing a different job from a maker-first exporter. A preview optimises for the viewer: fast inference, a responsive on-screen look, acceptable fidelity for a parallax effect or a VFX pass. A maker export optimises for what the machine reads: bit depth, mesh water-tightness, millimetre scale, and a known remap so the same slider value yields the same physical height across runs. Artificial Studio is built for the first job; Depth-Map.com is built for the second. Neither is wrong, but a user who treats a preview PNG as a laser input will see 256-step stepping on brass; a user who tries to preview a video clip frame-by-frame on a maker exporter will burn credits for an on-screen look they do not need.
The clean split: preview on Artificial Studio when you are still deciding; export on Depth-Map.com only when the frame is headed to a machine. Three credits a day on the anonymous tier covers casual frame-by-frame work without a sign-in.
What the table leaves blank
Five rows of “not disclosed”, one row that is public.
Artificial Studio does not publish entry pricing, bit depth, STL format, or free-tier limits on a machine-readable plans page. We will not guess. The one row that is public — input types — says images and short videos, which comes from the Google AI Overview excerpt in which Artificial Studio is itself cited. If Artificial Studio publishes a spec sheet, we will fill in the remaining rows.
Try the maker-grade export from the homepage with the lion sample already loaded. Pricing for Pro and Studio sits at /pricing.